Koenning To Take Over As DC for ’Eers

JIM BUTTA

For The Intelligencer

MORGANTOWN — It didn’t take WVU coach Neal Brown long to quell one of the many questions surrounding ‘his’ West Virginia University football team.

Just who would be his choice to head the Mountaineers’ prevent unit?

“On the football side, offensively, you all know my background,” Brown said.

“That’s why I am here. We’re not changing that. We’ll be a fast-paced, attacking offense. We’re going to get playmakers in space and put points on the board. We’re a get-it-done offense, by any means necessary to win the game. We’re going to shots down the field, create explosive plays. We’re also going to be very physical up front, we’re going to run the football.

“On defense, we’ll be aggressive, playing fundamentally-sound football with one goal of getting the ball back. We want our players reacting, not thinking.”

Then came the announcement.

“I’m pleased to announce that Vic Koenning will be our defensive coordinator,” Brown said. “Vic has a history of putting together some of the top, attacking defenses in the country. He was a huge part of our success at Troy, he has experience in this league, and I cannot be more excited to have him.”

Koenning started his college career as an assistant coach for the University of Memphis (1986) before moving on to become the defensive coordinator at the University of Wyoming (1997).

In 2000, he was promoted to head coach of the Cowboys, but was fired following the 2002 season after posting a record of 5-29.

After Wayne Bolt left Troy following the 2002 season, Koenning was hired by Larry Blakeny as his replacement where Koenning led Troy to a Top-10 ranked defense in 2004.

In 2005 Koenning became defensive coordinator for the Clemson Tigers. Clemson ranked in the top 25 for scoring defense and total defense during his tenure. He was hired at Kansas State by coach Bill Snyder on Dec. 8, 2008 to be assistant coach and co-defensive coordinator at his alma mater.

A year later, Ron Zook announced that he was hiring Koenning as the defensive coordinator at the University of Illinois where he stayed until 2011.

He served as the Interim Head Coach for the Illini for their bowl game against UCLA and was hired by the University of North Carolina to be the Tar Heels’ Assistant Head Coach/Defensive Coordinator following Illinois’ win in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl.

He returned to Troy after the 2014 season and has served as the Trojans’ DC since then.

“I am very excited to join coach (Neal) Brown at West Virginia University,” Koenning said. “We enjoyed great success together at Troy and we are looking to continue that success here.”